Surreptitious Serendipity
by VVS - Velle
Summary: It's been years since the well closed on her. She became a successful business partner and her day-to-day life became a routine she was comfortable with. Unfortunately, being CEO of a mega corporation really wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Her life was certainly something, but she was absolutely positive it would never be complete. Not in her lifetime anyway. R:M Just in case.
1. Prologue

**_Surreptitious Serendipidity: Prologue_**

Janet was the secretary of the CEO building. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and was, perhaps, the most _talkative_ person to ever grace the _Earth._ And because of the lack of an assistant at the moment, Kagome was stuck with the obnoxious blonde for twelve hours, every day, for the next _week._ She was very friendly, perhaps too friendly. She was someone who you would call a _brown-nose._ The good news was that Janet was very hard-working. Most, if not all, work was always completed by the end of the day. She always had her assignments turned in on time. Her accuracy with math and numbers in general were superb. Her language skills, because she was bilingual, made her a great asset to the company. Needless to say, she was all-around _perfect._ The _bad_ part was she didn't know how to give you _space._ And _because_ she was so perfect was a valid enough reason to _never_ fire her.

"Would you like some coffee?" She asked, "I'm headed to the lobby for a cappuccino, any requests?"

"No thank you, Janet," Kagome responded, not looking away from her computer and typing in the much needed information that had to be turned in within the next hour.

"What about a sandwich? Are you hungry?" She asked.

Kagome mentally sighed. She knew how this would go. Janet would ask about a million and one questions before _actually_ going down to the lobby to get something. "Actually, Janet," she said, "I do have a task for you." She swiveled in her chair and picked up six different files. "Send these documents to _each_ department. These are the new updates for protocol safety measures. Make sure each head has one, and tell them to make copies for all leads."

"Done," Janet said with a nod of her head, eagerly grasping for the files.

"Oh, and Janet?" Kagome said, looking her square in the eye, "Do not dilly-dally. And when you are done, you are free to go."

"Yes, Ma'am!" She said with a big smile, practically bouncing out the door.

Her day was very near over, and she was looking forward to it. She began logging out of her computer and cleaning up for the day. She was actually fairly organized - her desk was always clean and she absolutely _despised_ having any clutter around her. She had always made it a point for Janet to make sure she never saw any trash _anywhere,_ otherwise, Kagome would be one upset boss. A knock on the door caused her to momentarily pause in her nightly cleansing of her office. "Come in," she called, and the door opened quickly.

"Before I go, I received a few documents that was needed to be handed over to you," Janet said as she walked in. "I had forgotten they were there on the desk. You were gone for a while from the office so I hadn't had the chance until now."

"Alright, do you happen to know who sent them and what they are for?" Kagome asked as she stood to reach over her desk for the vanilla colored folders.

"Ah, the new intern, what was his name? Kori? He delivered them from the head-hancho upstairs," she said, "He said they were about a dinner date interview with the applicants for the assistant job. I'm assuming they're attempting to get you an assistant so I can stay in one place."

"You know," Kagome replied as she looked over the documents, "You just might be right. His name was Kovi, by the way."

"Darn, so close," Janet said, snapping her fingers, "I'm really terrible with names."

"I know," Kagome said with a glare. It had taken the girl nearly three months to memorize her name and another to just be able to _pronounce_ it properly. She supposed there were a lot of people in the facility, but it wasn't _that_ difficult to memorize your boss's name, was it?

The woman shrugged and raised her hands in defense. "I'm gonna get going - these files aren't going to deliver themselves! I'll see you in a while."

"I have an early night tonight, remember?" Kagome reminded her.

"OH, that was today?" She said with incredulity in her voice, "Gosh, I'm so scatterbrained. Alright then, I'll close the lobby tonight, so no worries."

"Alright, thank you Janet," Kagome said with a nod of her head as the woman bounced, once more, out of the room. Kagome took a sneak peak at the documents before she heard a soft alarm go off behind her. Quickly, she tucked her folders under her arm for homework, turned off the alarm, and began making her way out the door. Most days she was out before the alarm went off, but for some reason, today was just one of the busier of the days. She didn't really need an alarm, but the company _insisted_ that every employee be as punctual as humanly possible to reduce the amount of overtime costs. In any case, Kagome was usually the last person out the door. After all, she usually had to make sure everyone had exited the building and every floor was put on lock-down.

With a sigh, she locked her office and clocked out at the receptionist desk _\- also known as **Janet's** desk - _before hopping onto the elevator to the ground floor and out the lobby doors. She knew she could trust Janet to take care of things. It was probably one of her greatest stress-reducers. Kagome found that it was so very hard to gain trustworthy adversaries, and Janet just so happened to barely make that cut. _Now if only she weren't so annoyingly perfect..._

* * *

She glanced at her rose-gold and silver trimmed watch - a nervous habit that she sometimes caught herself doing. She felt extremely out of place, though was fairly positive this was the place. She was having a dinner date with five potential employees, though if she had known that it would be a _formal_ affair, she would have dressed a bit differently. Her boss certainly knew how to throw her out of her comfort zone. In fact, she was almost fairly certain that he did it purposefully, if only to get her _out_ of that comfort zone.

With a reassuring sigh to calm her nerves, she walked up to the counter, showing her ID and reservation, before being escorted to a table. She was seated in front of a young boy who looked, perhaps, no older than twenty. She, herself, was in her late twenties and rapidly approaching her thirties. She approached the young man with a smile, noticing his calm demeanor and confident outlook. He was dressed to impress, that was for certain. She was in her business attire - which if she _really_ thought about it, was as _close_ to formal as she was going to get. He had a buttoned up, long-sleeve shirt that had a pleaded pattern woven into it. The maroon and golden crosshatches seemed to compliment his features rather nicely. His hair was a reddish-orange color. It was uncommon to find someone with reddish-orange hair in Tokyo, Japan, though it wasn't unheard of. Though it was even _more_ uncommon to find someone with emerald green eyes - of which he had a dazzling pair of. The slacks he wore were of the darkest shade of gray, nearly black, in color. His leather black shoes looked nearly brand new. All in all, he was slick and dressed to perfection. His hair was even pulled back into a low-hanging ponytail. She was uncertain of just how long it was for it disappeared behind his back. When his eyes met hers, she could almost _swear_ that she had somewhere before.

With a smile, she extended her hand and he stood to greet her properly, accepting her hand in return. When they finished shaking hands the two took a seat as a waiter stopped by offering a drink. "You must be Mr. Saito," she commented. "I've read your file. I am Higurashi, Kagome, your interviewer."

As if unaware, he suddenly sat straight in his seat. His back went rim-rod straight instead of the relaxed posture he'd had previously. "Don't be so nervous!" Kagome laughed, "This is a dinner date between six individuals, including myself. I'm here to simply ask the five of you some fairly simple questions. The food is just an added bonus, which, by the way, is completely paid for by the company, so please, eat your fill."

Kagome realized that the two of them were actually fairly early. She got there early because she wanted to set up and get the interview over with. Apparently, it wouldn't happen the way she had _wanted_ it to happen, but it was close enough. It didn't take long before three others joined them, in which they had some light chatter before the interviews actually began. "Alright, it looks like... Marina Sancheros is not going to be making it to this dinner party, so it's just you four and myself tonight," she said with a smirk. She couldn't help but to think about how this seemed like some sort of reverse harem before getting her mind on track. "Alrighty, my name is Higurashi, Kagome, in case you didn't catch that. I'm your interviewer this evening, and this position is for my personal assistant." She gave them details such as the work hours, the type of work they'd be doing, and more. She even gave them a bit of a rundown of how things normally went in the office. "Alright, so do any of you have any questions?"

When no one spoke, the waiter stopped by and took everyone's orders. And they began to eat. "So, how did you get to where you are now?" A boy, perhaps eighteen or nineteen years old, asked. He had blue eyes and black hair that reached just passed his shoulders.

"Good question, Mr. Takayama, and to be honest, I'm still figuring out how I landed the job myself," she said with a laugh as she continued to eat. "It all started in high school."

* * *

 **o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o** **o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o**

 ** _Hello, hello!_**

 ** _This is an idea in the works! I do have a bit of an idea how I want this story told._**


	2. Aftermath

**_Surreptitious Serendipidity: Chapter 001: Aftermath_**

 _Stunned._

That was really the only word to describe her current state. There she sat - right there, at the bottom of that cold, dark well. The smell of mildew and dirt clung to every wall. She sat as still as a statue, wide-eyed and unresponsive to the world outside of that dinky little well house. It wasn't until Buyo the cat wandered in sometime after lunch when she finally managed to get up off her knees.

How many times had she tried? No more than three this week. Had to be. She twisted her ankle the very first time she had tried - nearly three months prior. She knew she had to return- she must! She had a duty to complete, an enemy to defeat...why was she not allowed to cross? She must have come up with a million possibilities as to why, exactly, the well refused to function properly. Maybe the wood had finally rotted and lost it's magical properties. Perhaps someone in the past is blocking her entry. Maybe, even, they didn't _want_ her to return.

Whatever the reason, she knew a few things were for certain. The first, most obvious fact, that she was stuck in modern day Japan, where people were busier than bees all day, second being that she still maintained a quarter of the jewel. Without that quarter, the jewel will never be completely whole. Third of all, despite her state of depression, she _had_ to do _something_.

Of course, saying and doing were two completely different things.

Regardless, she knew that this had to stop. With one final look at her dark surroundings, she climbed up and out using the very worn ladder propped up on one of the well's walls. The tears didn't subside, but she did make up her mind right then. She would spend the next several months making a life for herself, to entwine herself back into modern society and build a future worth having.

It was certainly difficult. She cried very nearly every day, at first. She supposed she had been in denial all those months, thinking the well would magically reopen itself when it was ready, just as it had done on her fifteenth birthday. It had been wishful thinking, she knew, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to accept the fact that the well very may be closed for the remainder of her very short life span. She only had a hundred years to walk this earth - and already, nearly a quarter of it was taken. What would she even _do_ with the time she has left?

The plan was to move in with Sango and Miroku. She was going to help them rebuild Sango's home village. She wanted to see the two of them get married and have lots of children. She wanted to see Shippou become a striking, handsome young man - she wanted to be the one to raise him well. To see him eventually leave her nest and find a mate of his own. She wanted to build a life with Inuyasha at her side, to see where they could take their new-found relationship. She wanted to see it all.

But now, she will never be able to witness Sango's first pregnancy, or Shippou's first real, long-term relationship. She will never experience another kiss, or to even hear the words she so longed to hear from her first love's lips. She'll never be able to have another carefree moment among them, never have another heartwarming, one-on-one conversation with Sango, who she practically saw as a sister. Never again have the warm snuggles every night from her little man. Never be held romantically high above the tree tops. No. Gone were the days of the magical girl from the future who would help slay beasts and collect shards of a shattered jewel. No longer was this her little fairy tale-

In a way, she could very well be saying goodbye to her childhood. Her _teen_ hood. This period of time where everything seems to just _fit_ into place.

Kagome made it to the third stair of the well-house before glancing back at the old, dusty well. With tears still flowing freely down her face, she gave a shaky smile, a deep breath, before she walked out of that well-house. She promised herself she wouldn't try anymore. It's been three months - she _had_ to accept her new reality.

Or waste away into nothing.

* * *

There was a newspaper left on the kitchen counter as she was prepping for breakfast one morning. It has been a total of six months since she has accepted the fact that she would never again traverse time. These days she kept herself busy in an attempt to not think about the past. More often than not, she ended up cooking or cleaning, and ultimately had many left overs and a damn near spotless shrine.

She had pulled out all of the materials needed for a traditional American-style breakfast: bacon, eggs, biscuits, potatoes - the works. Just as she was about to begin dicing her potatoes, she noticed a 'help-wanted' ad snack-dab in the center of the page. And for just a moment, she considered picking up that newspaper before shaking her head and continuing her task.

For nearly a week a week straight, that newspaper sat on the counter, taunting her, beckoning to her. Normally she would have tossed it out. Would have torn it to shreds and never thought twice. Why didn't she just get rid of it?

Finally, when she couldn't stand it anymore, she returned to that newspaper, feeling ridiculous and angry over it all, with the full intent of tossing it into the recycle bin. She hesitated as she scrunched the newspaper in her hand. With a sigh, she looked at the dock, and with sudden adrenaline and determination pumping through her system, she threw on her shoes, grabbed a coat, her purse and keys, and she was gone.

* * *

 **o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o** **o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o**

 ** _Hello, hello!_**

 ** _Long time, no see, ne? I've been working my butt off at school, at work, doing commissions-  
I had completely forgotten about the story I began!_**

 ** _I really appreciate all the reviews! I'm so happy that this story seemed to catch with so many of you - and it was only a prologue! An idea sparked out of thin air in my mind!_**

 ** _So yeah, sorry for such a crazy-late update! My updates are super irregular, but I try to write/type when I have the free time. X3 Not to mention, I'm a grammar-freak - I really want to make sure my punctuation and spelling is spot-on, or at least as close as I can get to it._**

 ** _It was a short one, but the next update will be longer! I've already got most of the next chapter done, just fleshing out some details. X3 I might do a second update later this week if all goes well. Finals are this week, so wish me luck!_**

 ** _I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you in the next update!_**


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